Dawlish News

A carer who attacked a fellow pub-goer in the street, causing a broken bone in his ear, has been convicted.At Exeter Crown Court 40-year-old Paul Drane, of Park Road, Dawlish, was found guilty after a two day trial of causing grievous bodily harm to Mark Symonds in October 2006.

Sentence on Drane, who had denied the charge, was adjourned for the preparation of a pre-sentence report and he was granted bail.

During the trial, a nurse who was driving past the scene the attack described how she stopped and put the victim, who was lying unconscious on the pavement, in the recovery position.

The court heard that, after a verbal altercation in the Landsdowne pub in Dawlish, Drane and Mr Symonds went outside where the victim was punched in the face and knocked to the ground. He suffered a fracture to a bone in his right ear and was later treated in intensive care at Torbay Hospital.